Sunday, August 07, 2011

QUESTION: Cameron, what do you recommend to newcomers of Twitter, in terms of what to do first, how to get started, and how to gain a healthy list of followers?

1. When you sign up for Twitter use your name (@firstlast) or a catchy (easy to write) Twitter Handle.

2. If you choose to use a brand name make sure you note who is tweeting from the account on the profile.

3. People like following people so be a person first and a brand second.

4. Whether you post a picture of yourself (preferred) or a logo/brand image make sure it represents you well.

5. When you tweet, treat your Twitter stream like a magazine or newspaper. Your tweets should be 80% interesting and relevant content targeted towards your main audience with only 20% or less of your tweets talking about yourself or your brand.

6. When listening to see what is useful and relevant follow hashtags like #eventprofs for Event Professionals and #assnchat for Associations. Use these hashtags in your tweets to be seen by these relevant audiences. When onsite at a conference make sure you follow and tweet the hashtag for the conference(i.e. #WEC11). Strike quickly when the opportunity arrises to follow popular discussions to discover and follow your relevant audience. If you are relevant to them they will follow you back!

You can also use tools like Twellow but you will get the most out of Twitter by actually interacting, sharing, promoting others and fostering relationships that start online and continue off!

No time to read Outliers yourself? Or maybe you actually care what I think? Either way I will be posting my highlights from Outliers as I read through.----------------
August 9, 2011
Highlight from Chapter 1: The Matthew Effect

This chapter provides evidential support for how rich getting richer and the poor get poorer. The Matthew Effect, essentially, is the effect of accumulative advantage. From sports to school your life is guided by arbitrary things like your birthdate, socioeconomics, proximity to opportunity, etc.

A young person who wants to play a sport will benefit or suffer depending on the team selection cut date. If you are 8 to 12 months younger than the same boys or girls in your age group you are at a huge disadvantage when competing for prestigious sponsored teams. The same goes for educational access. If you are entering 1st grade with students who are 6 to 12 months older than you than you are highly likely not to be judged as intelligent, as gifted or as ready to be given special advantages that "smarter" students receive.

Gladwell suggests that sports and schools group incoming students by age blocks and not just by arbitrary cut off dates that can severely effect student outcomes.
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Cameron Toth

Cameron Toth owns and operates Toth Event Staffing. Please call or email Cameron Toth for your party in the Greater New York City area. From Southern Connecticut to Manahattan Toth Event Staffing provides great people who provide great service.

Waiters, Bartenders, Chefs and even entertainment is all available from Toth Event Staffing.